We recently connected with Alma Landeta and have shared our conversation below.
Alma, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I’m currently working on a mural for the San Francisco LGBT Center titled Joy is the Fuel. This is a meaningful project to me as a nonbinary queer that moved to San Francisco from Florida 12 years ago seeking a more supportive community. San Francisco has not only been a safe haven for me as a queer person, but it has also inspired me to dig deeper into my art-making. Making this mural for such an important community organization, at such a hyper visible spot, in one of the queerest places in the world is an absolute dream come true! Text on the mural reads: Joy is the Fuel for Our Collective Strength. As attacks on queer and trans people continue to rise, it is when we come together that we can celebrate our resilience. We dare to be joyous in the face of violence. Queer dance parties may seem trivial—but with so much at stake for LGBTQ people right now, it is so much more. It is visceral; it is urgent; it is necessary to be joyous together. Through this mural, I hope queer and trans people feel seen and loved. The mural will be unveiled at the SF LGBT Center Tuesday, July 25th.
Alma, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Alma Landeta (they / them) is a mixed-race, Cuban American, queer multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work seeks to build community through the exploration of intersectional identities. They make art about the importance of bodily autonomy for queer and trans people. Landeta received a Masters of Arts in Art Education from the Maryland Institute College of Art. They have shown work nationally and internationally through solo exhibitions, group shows, and artist residencies. In 2021 they were a recipient of the Artist’s Accountability Circles grant, allowing them and their creative partner, Tricia Rainwater, to form the arts collective Queer Rain. The mission of Queer Rain is to celebrate and uplift queer BIPOC femmes and gender-expansive artists. As a collective, they have published two magazines, facilitated four workshops, and hosted six events. Alma was a recipient of the Homebody Fellowship at Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio in the summer of 2022, and the Latinx Teaching Artist Fellow for Root Division 2020-2022. They are a current studio artist at Root Division, and sit on the Board of Directors as Studio Artist Board Representative.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I’ve been making art for a long time—going back to the cards I’d make as a kid for my mom on a near daily basis. Somewhere along the way I lost that sense of play though. As I’ve gotten more “serious” about my art as a career I find it tempting to get formulaic with the work, but lately I’ve tried to be intentional about carving out space to play. It’s taken time (and many mistakes) to learn that I can’t be precious with everything I’m making, that failed attempts can be deeply informative, and that the process isn’t linear.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Making art can be a painful process in the ways it’s deeply vulnerable and often misunderstood. But I can’t imagine not getting to be an artist! The process of getting to sit with big feelings and attempting to express them is deeply rewarding. Often I find that the work I’m most proud of is work that is more somatic or intuitive—it’s when I’m in my body rather than my head that the magic can happen! It’s really not even about having a finished “product” that I’m proud of, but instead being able to recognize the inherent value in the process. Tapping into this creative flow is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://studiolandeta.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alma.landeta/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alma-landeta-07a58136/
Image Credits
The images are titled in the file name, and all of the image credits belong to me (Alma Landeta)